It's Just Math

Research on Students' Understanding of Chemistry and Mathematics

Edited by Marcy H. Towns, Kinsey Bain, and Jon-Marc G. Rodriguez

ACS Symposium Series

Pursues novel, innovative, and creative research questions surrounding chemistry and mathematics

It's Just Math

Research on Students' Understanding of Chemistry and Mathematics

Edited by Marcy H. Towns, Kinsey Bain, and Jon-Marc G. Rodriguez

Description

At the interface between chemistry and mathematics, this book brings together research on the use mathematics in the context of undergraduate chemistry courses. These university-level studies also support national efforts expressed in the Next Generation Science Standards regarding the importance of skills, such as quantitative reasoning and interpreting data. Curated by award-winning leaders in the field, this book is useful for instructors in chemistry, mathematics, and physics at the secondary and university levels.

It's Just Math

Research on Students' Understanding of Chemistry and Mathematics

Edited by Marcy H. Towns, Kinsey Bain, and Jon-Marc G. Rodriguez

ACS Symposium Series

Chapter 1. How Did We Get Here? Using and Applying Mathematics in Chemistry, Marcy H. Towns, Kinsey Bain, and Jon-Marc G. Rodriguez
Chapter 2. A Modeling Perspective on Supporting Students' Reasoning with Mathematics in Chemistry, Katherine Lazenby and Nicole M. Becker
Chapter 3. Mathematics in Chemical Kinetics: Which Is the Cart and Which Is the Horse?, Kinsey Bain, Jon-Marc G. Rodriguez, Alena Moon, and Marcy H. Towns
Chapter 4. Graphs: Working with Models at the Crossroad between Chemistry and Mathematics, Felix M. Ho, Maja Elmgren, Jon-Marc G. Rodriguez, Kinsey R. Bain, and Marcy H. Towns
Chapter 5. Graphs as Objects: Mathematical Resources Used by Undergraduate Biochemistry Students To Reason about Enzyme Kinetics, Jon-Marc G. Rodriguez, Kinsey Bain, and Marcy H. Towns
Chapter 6. Math Self-Beliefs Relate to Achievement in Introductory Chemistry Courses, Michael R. Mack, Cynthia A. Stanich, and Lawrence M. Goldman
Chapter 7. "But You Didn't Give Me the Formula!" and Other Math Challenges in the Context
of a Chemistry Course, Amy J. Phelps
Chapter 8. Transition of Mathematics Skills into Introductory Chemistry Problem Solving, Benjamin P. Cooke and Dorian A. Canelas
Chapter 9. Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching in Chemistry: Identifying Opportunities To Advance Instruction, Lynmarie A. Posey, Kristen N. Bieda, Pamela L. Mosley, Charles J. Fessler, and Valentin A. B. Kuechle
Chapter 10. The Logic of Proportional Reasoning and Its Transfer into Chemistry, Donald J. Wink and Stephanie A. C. Ryan
Chapter 11. Making Sense of Mathematical Relationships in Physical Chemistry, Renée Cole and Tricia Shepherd
Chapter 12. What Education Research Related to Calculus Derivatives and Integrals Implies for Chemistry Instruction and Learning, Steven R. Jones
Chapter 13. Developing an Active Approach to Chemistry-Based Group Theory, Anna Marie Bergman and Timothy A. French
Chapter 14. Systems Thinking as a Vehicle To Introduce Additional Computational Thinking Skills in General Chemistry, Thomas Holme
Chapter 15. Video-Based Kinetic Analysis of Period Variations and Oscillation Patterns in the Ce/Fe-Catalyzed Four-Color Belousov-Zhabotinsky Oscillating Reaction, Rainer Glaser, Marco Downing, Ethan Zars, Joseph Schell, and Carmen Chicone
Editors' Biographies
Indexes
Author Index
Subject Index.

It's Just Math

Research on Students' Understanding of Chemistry and Mathematics

Edited by Marcy H. Towns, Kinsey Bain, and Jon-Marc G. Rodriguez

ACS Symposium Series

Author Information

Edited by Marcy H. Towns, Edited by Kinsey Bain, and Edited by Jon-Marc G. Rodriguez

Dr. Marcy H. Towns is a Professor of Chemistry at Purdue University. In 2017 she received both the ACS Award for Achievement in Research for the Teaching and Learning of Chemistry and the James Flack Norris Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Teaching of Chemistry. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a Fellow of the American Chemical Society. She has over 80 publications, over 2300 citations, and over 100 international and national presentations. She is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Chemical Education, focusing on manuscripts pertaining to chemistry education research. is a Professor of Chemistry at Purdue University. In 2017 she received both the ACS Award for Achievement in Research for the Teaching and Learning of Chemistry and the James Flack Norris Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Teaching of Chemistry. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a Fellow of the American Chemical Society.

She has over 80 publications, over 2300 citations, and over 100 international and national presentations. She is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Chemical Education, focusing on manuscripts pertaining to chemistry education research. Dr. Kinsey Bain earned a B.S. in Chemistry from Bethel University in 2012 and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Purdue University in 2017. Her doctoral work focused on student understanding of energy in the context of chemical reactions/processes. Concurrently, Kinsey also designed and led a National Science Foundation project that investigated student understanding and use of mathematics in the context of chemical kinetics. As a postdoctoral researcher at Michigan State University, she presently leads a research team focused on transforming STEM education through faculty development. One effort of this project focuses on facilitating and supporting faculty by teaching about three-dimensional learning (an adaptation of the National Research Council's document, A

Framework for K-12 Science Education), developing and validating assessment tools, and implementing support structures (at MSU and other partner institutions). Another aspect of this project investigates the adoption and implementation of instructional innovation across different disciplines and department cultures, as well as the effect on student outcomes. Jon-Marc G. Rodriguez earned a B.S. in Pharmacological Chemistry in 2014 and an M.S. in Chemistry at UC San Diego in 2016. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Chemistry at Purdue University. His research interests are situated at the interface between chemistry and mathematics, with the goal of learning more about students' reasoning to provide insight into how we can improve chemistry instruction and curriculum development. His research interests have led him to take an interdisciplinary approach toward research, focusing on the learning challenges shared across disciplines. He is currently investigating students'

mathematical reasoning in chemical kinetics, and his dissertation focuses on students' graphical reasoning in enzyme kinetics.